(2) whether he expects to order the additional 22 Chinook helicopters through (a) foreign military sales orders with the US administration, (b) direct commercial purchase from Boeing Company and (c) Finmeccanica in Italy;
(3) whether the additional 22 Chinook helicopters will be fitted with the Julius standard flight deck.
Work is ongoing on the acquisition of the 22 new Chinook helicopters. It is anticipated that the contract covering preliminary development work and long-lead items for the initial aircraft deliveries will be placed in the coming months once the associated formal investment business case has been approved. The Procurement Strategy, including the procurement route, will be considered as part of the formal investment case. No decision has yet been taken on the cockpit flight deck. The configuration of the aircraft, including the cockpit flight deck, will be determined as part of the initial development work.